The Guardian’s first brand campaign in 7 years shows ‘Hope is Power’

 ‘Hope is Power’

For the first time in seven years, The Guardian has launched a global brand campaign ‘Hope is Power’. The company broke even for first time ever earlier this year, thanks to digital revenue growth and contributions from readers. Following this success, the company has set itself an ambitious target of hitting two million subscribers by 2022. As one of the few remaining media outlets that doesn’t apply a firewall, the tagline ‘Hope is Power’ is aimed at strengthening its bond with existing supporters, whilst encouraging and empowering new ones at a time of global turbulence.

The campaign was inspired by an essay from editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, who published ‘A mission for journalism in a time of crisis‘, in November 2017. The campaign looks to show reasons to be hopeful during a politically volatile time but frames this hope in a way that looks to avoid blind optimism. It is hope with a purpose and aiming to drive imaginative solutions to global issues and highlight the Guardian’s purpose to not only hold power to account, but to challenge the status quo.

The lead brand creative features the tagline ‘Change is possible. Hope is power,’ on a stark attention-grabbing yellow background. OOH formats provide the perfect base for this type of creative as the impactful standalone copy is allowed to take centre stage. The creative is running for five weeks across TV, video-on-demand, cinema, social, audio, the Guardian’s own channels and outdoor.

In partnership with PHD, Talon planned the outdoor element of the campaign which is playing a key role. Focusing on formats that are ‘of the streets’, the plan focused on reaching our heartland Guardian Readers during their daily routine, on their way to and from work through rail and underground and at the weekends via flyposting. The flyposting was planned in towns and cities where there are more likely to be Guardian readers.

A natural partner for this type of brand campaign, OOH’s ability to extend engagement with audiences will help to bring The Guardian’s message of hope to a wide-ranging audience and boost brand awareness. We concentrated on formats with high dwell time and arresting visual impact, and locations with high footfall to reach carefully targeted audiences.

In short, The Guardian’s return to brand campaign activity has landed with a bang and is likely to resonate with many people who are looking for a sign of positivity and change in the current political climate. With media planned to compound the impactful creative, the OOH element in our opinion will certainly help to make this an iconic campaign.